Tsvangirai
breaks silence on MDC violence

HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has finally broken his
silence over reports of a raging power dispute between two Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) factions allegedly led by him and party secretary
general Tendai Biti.

Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai

Addressing a media briefing Monday afternoon, the MDC leader
said the reports were far-fetched, describing Biti as a "long time
comrade".

Biti, the Minister of Finance, is widely regarded as the second
in charge of the MDC despite being subordinate to party Deputy President
Thokozani Khuphe.

Tsvangirai categorically denied he was at
loggerheads with Biti, who attended the briefing.

"The SG (secretary
general) and I have been comrades in this struggle for many many years and
have stood together throughout this time and we will not allow the enemies
of real change to succeed in derailing the people's cause," said
Tsvangirai.

Violence broke out at the MDC headquarters leading to the
assault of party director-general Toendepi Shonhe and security director
Chris Dhlamini.

Media reports linked the hostilities to the two factions
jostling for control of the party ahead of an MDC congress next
year.

The MDC has since played down the incidence, describing it as a
mere administrative issue, which has since been overcome through
suspensions of the culprits.

Tsvangirai said he has since received a
preliminary report from the commission of enquiry which was established to
probe the causes of the violence.

The MDC has further accused bitter
rival Zanu-PF of sly attempts to fan division within its ranks in a bid to
weaken it ahead of the elections.

Tsvangirai was adamant no covert
attempt to divide his party would derail its mission to form a new
independent MDC government.

"The process of real change is irreversible
and the wishes of Zimbabweans undeniable," he said.

"The attempt to
divide us has been expressed through violence and disturbances at Harvest
House, dubious teams sent to provinces preaching gospels of division and
baseless and defamatory being manufactured and distributed to the
press."

"I am shocked by the energy and the magnitude of the efforts to
undermine our agenda."

Meanwhile, Tsvangirai was set to leave Harare
Monday destined for the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, to attend a World
Economic Forum meeting.

Tsvangirai, who was being accompanied by Deputy
Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and Biti, among top government officials,
was also expected to hold bilateral talks with African leaders in his
ongoing attempts to find a lasting solution to endless power squabbles with
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

His spokesman, James Maridadi told
The Daily News Monday the MDC leader was set to enter into a meeting with
Tanzanian leader and former African Union chair, Jakaya Kikwete, on
Tuesday.

The MDC leader, whose party continues to play second fiddle to
Zanu-PF in government, said the parties were still far from reaching an
agreement in their protracted talks to resolve outstanding issues to the
Global Political Agreement.

"As you know our negotiators concluded
their talks on April 3rd and gave our final report to the principals and
President Zuma," he said.

"Agreement on some issues has been achieved but
on the fundamental issues provincial governors, Attorney General, Roy
Bennett, Reserve Bank Governor, security sector reform and ministerial
portfolios the parties failed to converge."

Responding to questions
by journalists on prospects of an election in 2011, Tsvangirai said a poll
was still possible.

This contradicts claims by the leader of the smaller
faction of MDC, Mutambara, who has repeatedly dismissed the possibility of
an election next year was non-existent.

Supreme
Court rules in favour of Kunonga

A
Supreme Court judge who benefited from a farm grab has ruled in favour of
excommunicated Anglican Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, effectively giving him
control of all properties belonging to the Anglican Diocese of Harare.
According to a report in the state owned Herald newspaper Deputy Chief
Justice Luke Malaba's ruling on Monday means that Kunonga and his Board of
Trustees are legitimate, despite breaking away from the Church of the
Province of Central Africa (CPCA) to form their own church.

Malaba's
ruling was based on the technicality that the CPCA had allegedly not
followed proper court procedures in filing their appeal. He said they had
not provided security costs for the appeal within the prescribed time and as
such were under an automatic bar imposed by the court.

In July 2009 High
Court Justice Ben Hlatshwayo, another farm beneficiary, ruled that the
Kunonga board was legitimate. The Church of the Province of Central Africa
then approached the Supreme Court to appeal this decision. On Monday Justice
Malaba was ruling on this appeal and his decision means the judgment to
recognize Kunonga by Hlatshwayo now stands. Justice Malaba also accused the
CPCA of abusing the appeal process as a way to suspend the initial ruling by
Hlatshwayo.

Newsreel spoke to CPCA lawyer Happious Zhou, who said the
effect of the judgment was to recognize Kunonga as the legitimate Bishop,
but he could only control the church property on behalf of the CPCA and not
his own church. In effect the court still views Kunonga as the CPCA Bishop.
Zhou said they were most likely going to file a fresh appeal with the
Supreme Court adding they were still in consultation with their clients over
this.

The dispute has been rumbling on for years with Kunonga's violent
minority of supporters blocking parishioners loyal to the main church from
using church premises in Harare. What has made the involvement and bias of
the state obvious has been the blatant support the faction has received from
the police. Riot squads have on several Sundays tear-gassed and arrested
parishioners and priests loyal to Bishop Chad Gandiya, the recognized church
leader in the city.

Kunonga's fall from grace started when he
declared his support for Mugabe's violent land reform exercise. He hounded
out priests who dared challenge his authority and a church trial around this
and other allegations of fraud only collapsed over legal technicalities.
Kunonga managed to endear himself to Mugabe's regime by using the dispute
over homosexuality in the Anglican Church as the reason for him breaking
away. Mugabe's state security agencies have been providing him round the
clock protection ever since.

Divisive
Zimbabwe bank chief keeps top job

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's controversial Reserve Bank governor, Gideon
Gono, has kept the top post in a new central bank board named Tuesday in a
bid to restore the institution's credibility after a currency
collapse.

"We have appointed a board that in our view is second to none,"
said finance minister Tendai Biti at a news conference in the capital,
Harare.

"This board is expected to restore viability, buoyancy,
credibility, legitimacy and accountability at the bank. There is a huge task
that has to be done at the bank."

Gono's continued presence at the
helm of the top bank has been a divisive issue in the power-sharing
government of long-time rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.

In 2008 Gono presided over the collapse of the local
dollar and hyperinflation that saw prices doubling daily.

In March,
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the top bank needed a new board
to strengthen governance and adopt a budget that would downsize its
operations.

The IMF added that governance at the central bank needed to
be strengthened and its role refocused after abandoning the Zimbabwean
dollar in favour of international currency in January last
year.

International investors and several Western governments have raised
concern over Gono's leadership of the central bank.

Biti said the
bank owes more than a billion dollars and has been issued with summonses
over the debt, resulting in some of its assets being sold.

Gono said some
of the lawsuits the bank was facing were malicious, adding that the bank
will be laying off some of its staff.

"We are now going to focus on core
business," he said at the news conference.

"Naturally we are going to
downsize, but that's for the board to decide."

The new board includes the
country's first post-independence central bank chief, Kombo Moyana, former
high court judge president George Smith, and lawyers and economists drawn
from the private sector.

The new board will announce a new monetary
policy committee to set interest and exchange rates.

Zim
leaders fail to review talks report

HARARE - Zimbabwe's coalition leaders have failed to meet to
review a key report on talks aimed to end a power-sharing dispute
threatening their unity government, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on
Monday.

Addressing reporters in Harare before leaving for the World
Economic Forum in Tanzania, Tsvangirai said he hoped South African President
Jacob Zuma, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)'s mediator in
Zimbabwe, will take advantage of the forum to brief the chairman of the
region's special organ on politics, defence and security on the stalled
dialogue in Zimbabwe.

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza chairs
the SADC organ tasked to monitor Zimbabwe's shaky unity government and
ensure Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara fully implement their power-sharing agreement known as the global
political agreement (GPA).

"I am sure that President Zuma will also
use the opportunity to go and brief the chairman of the (SADC) Troika and
act to ensure that we have the finality to these questions," said
Tsvangirai, referring to his dispute with Mugabe over appointment of
Zimbabwe's attorney general, central bank governor and provincial
governors.

Mugabe has refused to rescind his unilateral decision to
appoint two of his top allies as attorney general and Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor, while the veteran President has also refused to appoint
members of Tsvangirai and Mutambara's MDC formations as provincial
governors.

The Zimbabwe leader, who only agreed to form a unity a
government with his former opposition after his the international community
and some of his African allies refused to recognise his controversial and
violence-marred re-election in 2008, has also refused to swear in
Tsvangirai's top ally, Roy Bennett, as deputy agriculture minister, while
also blocking reform or restructuring of the armed forces that have backed
his three-decade rule.

The GPA commits the coalition government to
reform the security services among a host of other key reforms and measures
meant to democratise Zimbabwe's politics, while the agreement that gave
birth to the Harare administration last year requires that Mugabe consults
Tsvangirai before making appointments to senior public
posts.

Mugabe insists he will not meet his commitments under the GPA
or to fully implement the agreement until Tsvangirai calls on Western
governments to lift visa and financial sanctions against him and top
officials of his ZANU PF party.

But in a sign of his growing
frustration at Mugabe's refusal to implement the GPA, Tsvangirai warned that
his MDC party was ready for a fresh vote to end the political stalemate with
ZANU PF. "Trust me, we are ready for that election or any election," he
said. - ZimOnline

SADC
may step in again to tackle Zimbabwe crisis

HARARE - The three parties in Zimbabwe's inclusive
government have not overcome differences relating mainly to their sharing of
power, so the Southern African Development Community (SADC) may have to
intervene again.

President Jacob Zuma, the official Southern African
Development Community facilitator, is understood to be planning to visit
Zimbabwe to make a final push to achieve an agreement.

President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy, Arthur
Mutambara, established a unity government in February last year, but key
elements of their 2008 Global Political Agreement have not been
implemented.

Zuma is expected, after his visit, to brief the SADC's
troika on politics, defence and security so a decision may be made on what
should be done about the political impasse.

Tsvangirai said yesterday
that efforts had been made to resolve the outstanding issues since Zuma's
visit to Harare last month, but the main sticking points
remained.

"Agreement on some issues has been achieved, but on the
fundamental issues of provincial governors, the attorney-general, Roy
Bennett (whom the MDC wishes to appoint as deputy minister of agriculture),
the Reserve Bank governor, security sector reform and ministerial
portfolios, the parties have failed to converge," Tsvangirai
said.

"It is important that finality be brought to these issues. In this
regard, President Zuma's office, the SADC secretariat and the principals
themselves are working to ensure that this is done as expeditiously as
possible."

Last week ANC chairwoman Baleka Mbete visited Zimbabwe and
added her voice to calls for the parties to resolve their issues.

She
had separate meetings with Zanu-PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, and the
chairmen of the main and smaller MDC parties.

She is said to have
told them that South Africa was sacrificing a lot by playing a mediatory
role and so it was important for the parties to accept what their
negotiators and principals had agreed on.

Mbete is also said to have made
it clear to Moyo that ANC Youth League president Julius Malema was not
speaking on behalf of the ANC when, during his visit to Zimbabwe last month,
he supported Zanu-PF and criticised the MDC.

"The ANC and MDC now
understand Malema was just speaking for himself," an MDC official said in
Harare yesterday.

Minister
says Daily News and NewsDay on the streets in June

Minister of Information Webster Shamu has said the much awaited
privately owned daily newspapers, The Daily News and NewsDay can be expected
to be published in June, as the Zimbabwe Media Commission started inviting
applications for licensing on Tuesday.

Journalist Angus Shaw said
Shamu made these remarks at the official ceremony to mark World Press
Freedom Day on Monday. The Minister told journalists that the publishers of
the two newspapers have been told that their applications will be looked at
favourably and they would be fast-tracked, so that they can start publishing
next month.

Zimbabwe has not had a privately owned daily newspaper since
the Daily News was banned in 2003. The Daily News is owned by the Associated
Newspaper Group and NewsDay will be published by Alpha Media Holdings,
publishers of the Zimbabwe Independent and Standard weeklies.

While
Minister Shamu's statement has been welcomed, sceptics are wary and believe
there is still little desire for real media reform. And while there is talk
about introducing new players in the print media, there is still no change
to the iron ZANU PF control over radio and television.

Shaw said it's
very clear the call for licensing is to appease critics of the Global
Political Agreement, but there can be no real media freedom until repressive
laws - such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act - are
repealed. "Minister Webster Shamu said AIPPA will be amended, but it still
has punitive measures in it and he said he wants Zimbabweans to be
'disciplined' and not 'anarchic'. So they are still retaining a certain
amount of controls on the media. And should Trevor Ncube's paper (Newsday)
come out next month, which is what we expect, I am quite sure there will be
punitive measures or threats against them, if they are a true independent
daily."Meanwhile the application process for licensing journalists and media
houses started on Tuesday and media practitioners have until June 4th to
register with the ZMC. Local journalists will pay an initial application fee
of $20 and once that is accepted, another $100. The application fee for
local mass media news organisations will be $500, registration fee $1500
dollars, while the renewal of registration will be $1 000 dollars. Shaw, who
writes for the news agency Associated Press, said foreign agencies have to
pay a registration fee of $500 and $2 000 for a licence to operate.He
said it was obvious at the ZMC offices at the Rainbow Towers Hotel that the
commission was still waiting for money to operate. He said the forms for the
new applications are all photocopies of the old forms from the Tafataona
Mahoso era. "And there is a sign there which has not been replaced, with the
old Mahoso Media and Information Commission logo on it. So they haven't even
done the basic cosmetic changes like putting up a new sign."

The
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe has also said the government budget for
the ZMC's operations remains negligible.

ZMC
delay in licensing new players slammed

HARARE - Media watchdogs in Zimbabwe on Monday attacked
the government-appointed media commission for commemorating World Press
Freedom Day instead of attending to the urgent matter of licensing new
players in an industry that has been tightly controlled by President Robert
Mugabe and his ZANU PF party since independence in 1980.

The Zimbabwe
Media Commission (ZMC), a constitutional body, was created last February as
one of the key reforms to open up the country's political space, replacing a
state-appointed body that used tough media laws to police the newspaper
industry, forcing several titles to close.

"The ZMC should with immediate
effect start licensing new media players . . . when this is done, the ZMC
would be eligible to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day," said Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists (ZUJ) secretary general Foster Dongozi, in a petition
presented to ZMC chairperson Godfrey Majonga.

The petition was signed
by the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) which consists of ZUJ, Media
Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe, Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe,
Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (ZNEF), the Federation of African Media
Women of Zimbabwe and the African Community Publishing Development
Trust.

"We, the members of MAZ note with concern that since the ZMC was
appointed early this year, no new media players have been licensed.
Potential players have been waiting and continue to incur costs as the ZMC
shows no sense of urgency," said the petition.

In response Majonga
said the ZMC would "start in earnest to process applications for media
players and journalists since the accreditation fees were gazetted last
week".

ZNEF representative Iden Witherall said the government was taking
its time to repeal laws such as Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which continue
to affect freedom of the press, a year after media practitioners asked for
their repeal at a conference in the resort town of Kariba.

But
Information Minister Webster Shamu said AIPPA and the Broadcasting Services
Act had been "extremely" amended in 2007 and 2008.

"As should be apparent
from the progress which ZMC is set to make, there are no legal impediments
to improving the media environment," said Shamu, adding; "That there are no
legal barriers to improving the media environment is not the same as saying
there are no threats."

Shamu said negotiators of the power-sharing
agreement between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had proposed
amendments to media laws which are "one giant step backwards in terms of
freeing the media and improving the environment for
journalists".

Said Shamu: "They (amendments) are divisive and
discriminatory. They undermine the work of constitutional bodies put in
place to regulate media issues. They undermine my ministry by seeking to
relocate its functions to these negotiators. Above all they go against the
foundational principle of freeing the media from political meddling and
control."

He added that he had "anxiety over the proliferation of
publications which are not registered. This situation cannot be allowed to
continue."

Mugabe and long time rival Tsvangirai formed a unity
government last year following a dispute over general elections in March
2008 and have promised a raft of reforms, including freeing up the media by
allowing more players.

Western donors, whose aid is essential to
Zimbabwe's economic recovery from a decade-long downturn, have demanded
broad political reforms before funding the unity government, which says it
needs at least $10 billion for reconstruction.

The southern African
state has been urged to scarp legislation that bars foreign journalists from
working long-term in the country. - ZimOnline

Broken
Promises on Zimbabwe Press Freedom

BULAWAYO, May 3,
2010 (IPS) - Fourteen months after Zimbabwe's government of national unity
was formed, harassment, arbitrary arrest and general intimidation of
journalists remains common.

In a statement issued on May 3, World Press
Freedom Day, the Zimbabwe chapter of the press watchdog Media Institute of
South Africa deplored repressive legislation constraining
journalists.

These include the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, which prevents media organisations from hiring unaccredited
journalists; the Public Order and Security Act which has been widely used to
prosecute critics of the president, his government and policies; and the
Broadcasting Services Act, which sets such complex requirements for
registering broadcast media that the government-controlled Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation remains the only station on the
airwaves.

"These laws are unnecessary and unjustified in a democratic
society and should therefore be repealed in line with the principles of the
African Charter on Human Rights, Banjul Declaration on the Principles of
Freedom of Expression in Africa, [and the] SADC Protocol on Information,
Sports and Culture and African Charter on Broadcasting," the statement
read.

"The changes to the restricted media space have been cosmetic to
say the least," MISA-Zimbabwe chair, Loughty Dube told IPS. "Journalists
still face the same harassment and intimidation that was common before the
GNU."

In January this year, freelance journalist and IPS contributor
Stanley Kwenda fled into exile after a senior police officer allegedly
threatened him with death over a story.

A correspondent for the
government owned Chronicle working in the border town of Beitbridge,
Mashundu Netsianda, was arrested for reporting on police officers fleeing
gunfire. In March, a Mexican journalist was arrested in Masvingo gathering
footage for a World Cup documentary.

Photo journalist Anderson Manyere
has become a regular guest in police holding cells and has been arrested for
doing his job at least than three times since the start of the
year.

Five journalists from the Standard newspaper have been summoned to
appear in court in connection with a story about a land scandal involving
prominent businessmen Phillip Chiyangwa and the Minister of local
government, Ignatius Chombo.

Radio journalist and documentary maker
Zenzele Ndebele has also been threatened for his documentary on the
"Gukurahundi" atrocities committed by Zimbabwean security services in
Matabeleland in the early 1980s.

"Press freedom in Zimbabwe is guaranteed
by whoever is in power and that is clear in the manner journalists have to
constantly watch their backs each time they write a story or make a
broadcast," said Ndebele.

"Radio Dialogue has been waiting for 10 years
for a community radio broadcasting licence and we cannot fully operate as a
radio station," he said.

The announcement by the Zimbabwe Media
Council at the end of April of greatly reduced fees for media registration
and calling for media houses and journalists to renew their registration by
Jun. 4 has been welcomed by journalists as a small sign of change.

"A
free and unfettered media plays a critical role in advancing citizens'
universal right to access to information held by both public and private
bodies," said MISA-Zimbabwe in its statement, "and is a panacea to
socio-economic development, accountable governance and political
stability."

Human Rights Watch, which published a critical report on
failure on the Zimbabwean government's failure to protect press freedom in
April, warns that credible elections - which President Robert Mugabe has
suggested will take place in 2011 - cannot be held in the absence of a free
media.

Zimbabwe
Teachers Remain in Schools for New Term - But Demand Action on Pay

PTUZ
President Takavafira Zhou and Zimbabwe Teachers Association President
Tendayi Chikowore said they have been encouraged by statements from Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that the government is re-examining public
pay

Patience Rusere | Washington 03 May 2010

The Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said Monday that its members will report for duty
Tuesday as a new school term opens - but added that the government has two
weeks to raise salaries or face a possible strike.

Both PTUZ President
Takavafira Zhou and Zimbabwe Teachers Association President Tendayi
Chikowore said they have been encouraged by statements from Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai that the government is examining their
situation.

Zimbabwe's state employees are demanding salaries of some
US$600 a month compared with salaries that now top out at US$200. Finance
Minister Tendai Biti has said the government cannot afford increases, so
wages are frozen.

Zhou, refuting reports by the state-controlled Herald
newspaper that his members would stay away on the first day of the new term,
told VOA Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that his union will keep fighting
for higher salaries.

ZIMTA President Tendai Chikowore said her
organization union wants dialogue with the government, not confrontation.

“Access to Information: the Right to Know”

The Media Institute
of Southern Africa, a regional media and freedom of expression advocacy
organisation, based in Windhoek and working through national chapters in 11
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries joins the rest of the
world in marking the World Press Freedom Day on May 3 2010.

MISA
commemorates May 3 under the theme “Access to Information: The Right to
Know”.

The 2010 World Press Freedom Day comes at a time when the
enjoyment and respect for media and freedom of expression has taken a
serious downturn in Southern Africa. We mark May 3 under the shadow of a
deterioration of media freedoms throughout the region notably in Swaziland,
Zambia and Botswana.

The optimism and renewed hope that came with the
Government of Unity in Zimbabwe did not last. All seemed so bright; a
promise of a new chapter in the media environment of freedom and media law
reform for a country that has known repression for too long.

The
Government of Unity did not deliver. Not yet.Access to Information: The
Right to Know, remains largely a dream for the people of southern Africa,
home to the most secretive governments in the world. A MISA research
revealed non-transparent and overly secretive public institutions in
southern Africa, making it nearly impossible for citizens to exercise their
right to information.

Using international standards and principles on
Access to Information, no more than two of the 40 institutions surveyed
qualified as open and transparent. With the exception of two institutions,
none responded to written request for information including the Office of
the Ombudsman in Malawi. The Ministries of Health in Zambia and Swaziland
were among the most secretive institutions in the region.

The most
difficult country to request for information was Zimbabwe. Requesters in
some institutions had to sit for interviews to justify and explain why they
needed information. Information was denied based on what the public official
suspected the information was sort for. In all the public institutions,
information was denied. However, the other countries were no better than
Zimbabwe.

We mark May 3 unsure of the future of the African media. While
we have made strides since the Windhoek Declaration in 1991, the last five
years have witnessed a steady deterioration of media freedom, reminiscent of
Africa’s one party state era of the 70’s and early 80s, characterized by the
suppression of the basic fundamental rights of freedom of expression,
assembly and human dignity.The southern Africa envisaged in the Windhoek
Declaration of 1991 is a far cry from the arrests, beatings, torture and
detention of journalists and the general repression of media freedom that
are characteristic in the region today.

The continued use of laws
such as the Official Secrets Acts and penal codes to arrest and charge
journalists is a serious cause for concern throughout the region notably in
Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia

In the last 12 months, MISA issued 165
alerts. The alerts document media and freedom of expression violations and
developments in Southern Africa. Zimbabwe for the fifth consecutive year had
the highest number of alerts at 33, with Swaziland and Zambia in
tow.

The monitoring of media and freedom of expression violations
generally point to further deterioration in the relationship between
governments and the media.

In Swaziland the King remains the law. A
MISA study into censorship in Swaziland’s newsrooms singled out the monarchy
as the main predator of press freedom.

The once vibrant, unrelenting
and promising Swazi media now resembles a tired sleeping dog. A statutory
media council is underway after government refused to register a voluntary
self-regulatory council; the Media Complaints Committee.

Democracy in
Botswana under President Khama could easily pass for dictatorship. After
scraping the Ministry of Communication, Science and technology; state print
and broadcasting media are now under his bosom through the Ministry of State
President.However President Khama is not always having his way, his infamous
Media Practitioners Act of 2008 has failed to take off. Intense lobbying
from MISA has meant that publishers have refused participation while the law
society as refused to provide a chair as required by law.

Zambian
media made international headlines. The Government in an attempt to clamp on
the media dusted off the Penal Code, a colonial piece of legislation to
press criminal charges against a news editor for supposedly distributing
pornography and obscene material under section 177 1 (a).

The news editor
had sent pictures of a woman giving birth outside a hospital unattended by
health workers. The pictures were not printed in the newspaper for what the
paper referred to as “disturbing” but sent them to the highest political,
civil and religious leaders to “see the impact and help end the strike by
health workers.” When government failed to demonstrate how a woman in labor
and in excessive pain could corrupt public morals, the high court threw the
case out.

Like Swaziland, a statutory media council looms in
Zambia.

The above scenarios aimed at narrowing the media space and
infringing on free expression played out in different forms throughout the
region.

In September 2009, despite opposition from the public, the
Namibian Government passed a communication Bill popularly referred to as the
‘Spy Bill’. The act contains an interception clause, which gives Government
power to snoop into electronic, telecommunication and other forms of
communications of citizens.

The Malawian Government continued to
bully the media, including an advertising ban in the Nation Publication
Limited, a publisher of several newspapers on accusations of anti government
reporting.The Tanzanian Government banned Mwanahalisi newspaper for four
months using the Newspapers Act for allegedly publishing stories aimed to
incite public hatred against the President and provoking disorder within the
President’s family.

19 years after Windhoek Declaration on Press
Freedom the media in Africa are far from free and independent. MISA
commemorates May 3 commending the sacrifices of journalists, media
organizations and communities in defending media and freedom of expression
often under serious threats. MISA commends the few governments that continue
to maintain a healthy, interactive and consultative relationship with the
media and civic society. MISA further commends the donor community without
whose financial support, much of our work will come to a stand
still.

In line with this year’s theme on Access to Information, MISA
calls for legislation that guarantees citizens their right to information.
Laws that restrict access to information such as Official Secret Acts and
Zimbabwe’s AIPPA should have no place in democratic Africa. MISA calls upon
the AU and UNESCO to adopt an African Platform on Access to Information at
the 20th Anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration in May 2011.

MISA
further calls upon UNESCO to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the
Windhoek Declaration in Africa, Windhoek in particular.

Zimbabwe
Media Reforms Unlikely, Says Analyst

A Zimbabwean political analyst says, despite repeated
promises, embattled President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party is unlikely to
implement the much-anticipated wide-ranging media reforms.

Rejoice
Ngwenya described the latest promise to overhaul the government media
policies as "pandering and pontificating for the sake of it."

"When it
comes to independent institutions of governance and democracy, ZANU-PF is
going to pontificate and issue propaganda statements that look credible on
paper, but they don't follow them up. So, we are kind of used to this
idea. This things needs political will, but ZANU-PF cannot deliver that,"
he said.

Zimbabwe's information minister, Webster Shamu, said Monday that
the administration will soon implement wide-ranging media reforms that could
result in independent media outlets breaking the government's hold on the
flow of information.

But, Zimbabwe's last independent newspaper was
shut down in 2003 after being accused of criticizing President Robert
Mugabe's government.

Analyst Ngwenya said ZANU-PF is only interested in
furthering its interest.

"I don't think that this time is going to be
different. Regulations and laws that have to do with self-enrichment and
self-empowerment like indigenisation (law that forces white-owned companies
to sell a majority stake to local blacks) are going to be cobbled overnight
with a string of propaganda and paranoia around these things by the state
media.I agree with those who say that this is not any different," Ngwenya
said.

Recently, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai came up with what has
been described as an ambitious plan that might see the government relax
draconian media and security laws by the end of the year. But, some
analysts express skepticism saying hardliners from President Mugabe's
ZANU-PF will undermine Tsvangirai's efforts to maintain the status
quo.

The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) - a coalition of groups
that includes the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Zimbabwe Union
of Journalists (ZUJ), and others, have often said that the country's media
laws were being used selectively to muzzle the independent media - a charge
supporters of the ZANU-PF deny.

Ngwenya said ZANU-PF propaganda will
suffer if the party embarks on media reforms.

"What that means
basically is that ZANU-PF has signed its death warrant. There is no way
ZANU-PF can survive politically when the citizens of this country have
access to information and are free to get independent political opinion, and
are free to chose," Ngwenya said.

Education Minister David Coltart, senator for the Bulawayo
constituency of Khumalo, said it is not yet clear if the North Koreans will
train in Zimbabwe during the 2010 World Cup starting next month in South
Africa

Gibbs Dube | Washington 03 May 2010

The Zimbabwean
Cabinet on Tuesday was to take up the highly sensitive question of to
whether the country should invite North Korea's soccer team to train in the
country through the World Cup in neighboring South Africa, amid demands by
Matabeleland regional activists that the team not be
welcomed.

Objections have to do with the fact that the Zimbabwean
Fifth Brigade, accused of committing massacres during the 1980s Gukurahundi
conflict between rival liberation forces in Matabeleland, was North
Korean-trained.

Education Minister David Coltart, senator for the
Bulawayo constituency of Khumalo, said it is not yet clear if the North
Koreans will train in Zimbabwe during the 2010 World Cup next month in South
Africa.

Coltart said that while it is unfair to blame the young soccer
players for the Fifth Brigade massacres in the Midlands and Matabeleland
regions in the 1980s, the government should take into account the demands by
regional Matabeleland activists that the North Korean team not train in
Zimbabwe.

Coltart told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that there is no
need to open up old wounds by hosting a team whose presence in the country
may provoke political disturbances. "It is important that we deal with this
issue in a sensitive manner so that we don't allow a visit like this to
inflame passions or re-open wounds," Coltart said.

Brilliant Mhlanga,
a member of the Matabeleland activist group Ibhetshu Likazulu, said the
North Korean soccer players would not be welcome in Matabeleland or anywhere
else in Zimbabwe. He said would be a "symbolic insult" to have the North
Koreans train in Zimbabwe as the Fifth Brigade atrocities remain
unresolved.

"Our wounds are still fresh and it is even more insulting to
the spirit of those whose innocent blood was shed after undergoing the most
horrific, evil and satanic acts ever committed in the history of modern day
Zimbabwe," he said.

Historians estimate that more than 20,000 people,
mainly of the Ndebele ethnic group, were killed by soldiers of the Fifth
Brigade in a purge of supporters of then-opposition leader Joshua Nkomo,
head of the Zimbabwe African People's Union, which later merged with the
Zimbabwe African National Union of Robert Mugabe.

Nkomo became
Zimbabwean vice president under the Unity Accord which ended the
fighting.

President Robert Mugabe has described the massacres as "an act
of madness," he has failed to publicly apologize for atrocities or provide
compensation for the families of civilians killed by government troops.

Harare,
Gaborone to sign power deal

HARARE - Zimbabwe and Botswana will on Thursday next week sign
an agreement for the refurbishment of a key thermal power station in
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city.

Once fully operational
the Bulawayo Thermal Power station is expected to produce around 90 MW, of
which 40 MW would be exported to Botswana.

Zimbabwe Power Company
(ZPC) managing director Noah Gwariro made told Parliament's portfolio
committee on mines and energy that the deal would be signed on May 15
between the two governments as well as representatives from, ZESA Holdings
and Botswana Power Cooperation (BPC).

"We have had a number of
meetings with BPC and I understand that on 15 May the two Ministries will
sign an Intergovernmental agreement," he said. "A loan agreement will also
be signed with ZESA Holdings while BPC and Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission
and Distribution Company will sign a power purchase
agreement."

Zimbabwe has three thermal power stations namely,
Bulawayo, Harare and Munyati, but years of under funding and mismanagement
have left the power stations virtually derelict.

Gwariro said BPC had
undertaken to ensure a three-month advance supply of coal to the power
station before commencing operations.

He said the due the high cost
of the electricity that will be produced from the thermal plant some of the
electricity will be sold to mining houses.

"The energy generated from
the thermal power plant is expensive as it will cost more," he said. "Some
of the electricity generated from the thermal station will besold to
some gold mining houses. The cost is also partly due to the distance from
the source of coal," he said. - ZimOnline

82
year-old chief Nyamombe attacked by ZANU PF thugs

By Tichaona Sibanda4
May 2010Police in Nyazura, Manicaland province are refusing to investige the
attack on 82 year old Chief Jameson Nyamombe, which left him hospitalised
with head injuries and a temporary loss of hearing.The attack, described
by locals as political, has not been investigated despite reports being made
to the authorities.The chief was on his way home from Rusape when he was
savagely attacked inside the bus by two well known ZANU PF youths from
Makoni South constituency, that is held by the MDC.Netsai Nyamombe, the
chief's daughter, told us her elderly father was in a Shungu bus when the
two youths accused him of supporting the MDC and of trying to ursurp powers
from Chief Chiduku, a non constituency senator representing ZANU
PF.

'The attack was in broad daylight with many witnesses. They held him
by the collar and threw punches at his face in front of shocked passengers
in the bus. No one dared to intervene for fear of reprisals from the two
youths,' Netsai said.The troublemakers also verbally abused the chief,
calling him all sorts of names. The chief was able to disembark from the bus
at Chitenderano in Makoni South. A report of the attack was lodged with the
police at Nyazura station.'Right now he's back home recovering after
spending a week at Rusape general hospital. Its obvious this was a serious
attack on a frail 82 year-old because it left him traumatised. The attack
also left him with a hearing problem,' Netsai added.MDC MP for the area
Pishai Muchauraya called Chief Nyamombe to inquire about his health and to
express his sympathy. He said the attack was an act of violence on an
elderly member of the community, 'which was beyond our culture of
understanding.'

'While I've urged my constituents to remain calm over
this incident, the authorities are reluctant to act against the known
culprits. They're too scared to pick up the thugs because they belong to
ZANU PF,' the MP said.

Girl
Child Network loses labour dispute

BULAWAYO - A former programme officer with the Girl Child
Network (GCN) has won a labour dispute against the director and founder of
the organisation, Betty Makoni for unfair labour practices and
dismissal.

Ropafadzo Mapimhidze took the award-winning single issue lobby
organisation to court when her employer locked her out of her workplace and
arbitrarily terminated her employment contract for questioning some of the
director's actions.

Labour court arbitrator J T Mawire of Eastlea
suburb, Harare ruled in Mapimhidze's favour against GCN, represented by
Nyikadzino, Koworera and Partners for failing to honour its obligations in
terms of the employment contract; failing to pay salaries and benefits as
stipulated in the contract and for substantial variations on the
contract.

Mapimhidze, a former journalist, was employed by the Girl Child
Network as a programme officer in charge of five programs.

From
January 2009 a number of changes were made to her contract while her
programs under her charge were reduced from five to one. She also had her
salary varied on several occasions from $1 200 to $860 resulting in a
cumulative shortfall of $3 400 over two years.

GCN lawyers had argued
that Mapimhidze had absented herself from duty and their client felt it had
to terminate her contract when it expired.

But in his ruling, the
arbitrator noted that GNC had failed to provide her with the tools of trade
and had made it impossible for her to carry out her duties.

He also
dismissed GNC's assertion that the contract was not permanent as the
organisation argued, attributing this to a mistake in drafting the
contract.

Mawire ruled that Mapimhidze be reinstated without loss of
salary including arrear salaries from the date of unlawful dismissal. If GCN
can no longer reinstate her, it must negotiate the amount of terminal
benefits with the claimant in lieu of reinstatement.

The Girl Child
Network has been facing serious organizational and management problems since
its founder fled Zimbabwe to Botswana en route to Europe allegedly "fearing
for her life" at the height of political disturbances after the 2008 general
elections, leaving behind a disgruntled workforce.

The ruling against GCN
appears to be an icebreaker to a possible series of lawsuits from employees
as the organisation battles to survive.

Some of the workers have
threatened to take the organisation to court and expose Makoni's alleged
fraudulent financial misdeeds that have left them unpaid for months while
Makoni was said to be still globe-trotting.

Employees talk of abuse of
donor funds, the organisation's assets including vehicles, and allege that
Makoni inflated figures to donors in project proposals for her own benefit
at the expense of beneficiaries and misrepresented the success of GCN
programs countrywide.

Mary Robinson visit enlivens Zimbabwe national healing process

Mary Robinson and a
distinguished team of African Sisters visited Zimbabwe in the week of April
23-30, as guests of both the Gender Ministry and the Organ on National Healing,
Reconciliation and Integration. "We thank you for contributing to the creation
of a safe space for women to work together for the past week," said Senator Mrs
Sekai Holland, Minister of State and co-Principal of the Organ.

Mary Robinson is the Honorary
President of Oxfam International, one of the group of Elders, and is currently
the President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, based
in New York.

As the women's team visited rural
and urban areas, they heard loud and clear that the process of national healing,
reconciliation and integration is long overdue, that a visible, audible and
heart-felt national healing process should be urgently implemented. "I am
therefore pleased to assure all these women especially the youths that the
program is now in place and will begin soon, as the Organ has now signed the UN
Development Program - Organ plan of action for 2010," said Minister Holland.
"Women also wanted the constitutional process to be informed by the values of a
nation that is in a healing process".

One immediate outcome of the
international team visit was the signing of an agreement by Comrade Oppah
Muchinguri for ZANU/PF, Amai Ena Chitsa for the MDC-Tsvangirai and Tsitsi
Dangarembga for MDC-Mutambara, who together pledged on behalf of their parties
to continue to dialogue on key issues. "The Organ principals advise women to
dialogue first within their own political parties, then they are able to
effectively work between and among the political parties.

“The Organ believes that without
their cleaning out the challenges that divide women within their own political
parties then the work among political parties will fail to take off," said
Minister Holland.

The Minister urged Mary Robinson
and her team to come back soon. "The dialogue this week has contributed
tremendously to cooling the ground among the women in Zimbabwe. It brought
together women from different sectors and political affiliations to work
together and to focus on the empowerment of women and how women can be peace
builders working together above all their differences," she said.

The visit is an outcome of six
months of intensive international effort by the Organ to have Zimbabwe take
ownership of matters Zimbabwean in the international community as well to inform
the millions of Zimbabweans abroad that the Global Political Agreement is real
and it has empowered Zimbabweans to make significant achievements in its short
life. Regular grassroots surveys by the Organ confirm this impact.

This is also the Organ’s first
program with government Ministries for solidarity partnerships to support local,
regional and international alignment of their work with Zimbabwe-specific
National Healing. The aim is to target all entry points of organized Zimbabwean
society at home and abroad for an inclusive outcome. “Civil society includes the
elderly, children, the youth, people with disability, business, faith-based
organizations, trade union movement, students, the health and
economically-challenged and others,” said Minister Holland.

The Organ has adopted History as
the centre piece for Zimbabweans to dialogue about their society. The Gender
Ministry was asked to consider the Monrovia Colloquium 2009, which was about
possible peaceful mobilization of women by women, as a way for women to explore
national healing, in partnership with the Organ. The Mary Robinson tour is a
practical expression of this partnership.

The United Nations Development
Program worked successfully with the small Organ staff through its Resident
coordinator Ms Elizabeth Lwaanga to facilitate the dialogue between the Mary
Robinson team and Zimbabwean women.

African
Leaders Unite for World Economic Forum on Africa

African leaders have begun converging on the Tanzanian city of
Dar es Salaam for the 20th annual World Economic Forum on Africa that begins
Wednesday.

Many heads of state are slated to attend the three-day forum,
including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Rwandan President Paul Kagame
and the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma.

Organizers say nearly
1,000 people from 85 countries will participate in the meeting, which will
explore the theme "Rethinking Africa's Growth Strategy."

The meeting's
host, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, describes the gathering as an
"opportunity to examine the strategy of Africa for today" to ensure "a
better tomorrow."

Other leaders taking part in the discussion include the
president of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, the head of the
World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, and representatives of the World Bank
and the United Nations.

The World Economic Forum's Young Global
Leaders Summit is being held concurrently this week in Dar es Salaam. More
than 265 young leaders from more than 70 countries are participating. The
young leaders' summit is focused on development and community
building.

The Geneva-based World Economic Forum is an independent
organization with a stated goal of "engaging leaders in partnerships to
shape global, regional and industry agendas."

MTN Bid for
Majority Stake in Zimbabwe's Telecel Said to Meet Harare
Resistance

MTN has been positioning to invest billions of dollars in
the Egyptian telecoms giant Orascom, which holds a 60 percent stake in
Telecel through Telecel Globe

Gibbs Dube | Washington 03 May
2010

MTN Group of South Africa, which seeks a controlling stake in
Telecel Zimbabwe, has reportedly hit a wall with the Harare government
signaling it will only be allowed to acquire up to 40 percent of the mobile
provider.

MTN has been positioning to invest billions of dollars in the
Egyptian telecoms giant Orascom, which holds a 60 percent stake in Telecel
through a subsidiary, Telecel Globe. But that deal now looks at
risk.

Telecel Zimbabwe Chief Commercial Officer Anwar Soussa told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube his company is in talks with the Posts and
Telecommunications Regulator in an effort to rescue the deal with
MTN.

Soussa said it is unlikely that Zimbabwe will influence the outcome
of the lucrative deal as investment in Algeria plays a crucial role in MTN's
decision to purchase shares in Orascom. "I don't think that Zimbabwe is
going to be the deal broker in this case but Algeria can play a crucial role
in this proposed investment," he said.

Economic commentator Rejoice
Ngwenya said the MTN-Orascom deal is being sabotaged by individuals who hope
to acquire a majority stake in Telecel. "There are some people I can not
mention who are busy trying to bring down this deal because they want to
have a major stake in Telecel Zimbabwe," said Ngwenya.

New
Zealand wins rain-curtailed match

Providence: New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 7 runs in a rain-curtailed
match by the D/L method to top their group and make it to the Super
Eight.

Chasing 85 runs for a win, New Zealand were 36 for one in 8.1
overs when rain interrupted play. Opener Brendon McCullum was on 22 and
Martin Guptill (6) was giving him company at the crease.

Zimbabwe
collapsed in a heap after a steady start as they were bundled out for a
paltry 84 by New Zealand in their last Group B match of the ICC World
Twenty20. Put into bat, openers Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza put on
36 runs in 4.4 overs but after that Zimbabawe batsmen fell in a heap to be
all out for 84 in 15.1 overs.

For New Zealand, Scott Styris and
Nathan McCullum took three wickets each by giving away five and 16 runs
respectively. All of McCullum''s scalps came in the ninth over while Styris
took his three wickets in the 13th over.

After the opening stand of 36,
Zimbabwe lost five wickets in 15 balls as they slumped from 57 for one in
6.4 overs to 63 for six in the ninth over. Later, three wickets fell in the
13th over bowled by Styris.

Taibu top-scored with a breezy 14-ball 21
which included four boundaries while his opening partner Masakadza
contributed run-a-ball 20. Greg Lamb (14 not out) was the only other batsman
who reached double figures.

New Zealand opening bowlers Shane Bond and
Tim Southee bowled a lively spell but Taibu was not the one to remain quiet.
He hit two fours each off Bond and Southee.

Southee though had the
last laugh as he removed Taibu with a slow bouncer and the
wicketkeeper-batsman holed out to square-leg fielder Jacob Oram while trying
a pull shot. Zimbabwe were at a healthy 41 for one after five overs but five
wickets in 15 balls put them in serious trouble.

First, Masakadza was run
out in the seventh over while trying for a single. Oram, at deep midwicket,
released the ball quickly and wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins threw the wicket
down before Masakadza could reach the crease.

Four balls later, Blignaut
(8) fell to Daniel Vettori. He went for a slog sweep but completely missed
it and the ball hit the stumps after kissing the gloves.

Three
batsmen fell in the ninth over bowled by McCullum. Elton Chigumbura (3) went
for a big shot only to find Martin Guptill.

Charles Coventry offered a
tame catch to McCullum in his follow through for a duck while Craig Ervine
(1) was stumped by Hopkins after he was foxed by the flight of the delivery.
There was lull for a while and Zimbabwe added 10 runs from 21 balls before
Timycen Maruma (4) fell in the 13th over.

That led to another collapse as
his two team-mates Graeme Cremer and Prosper Utseya fell in the same over.
Both of them failed to open their account.

Ray Price (2) was the last man
out LBW to Vettori as Zimbabwe folded at 84, the second lowest total in the
tournament so far.

Another
human-rights irony at the U.N.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad campaigned in Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Behind the scenes, his flunkies twisted arms and offered favors. For weeks,
feelers were sent out to all kinds of unlikely allies. What was the
diplomatic prize at stake? Nothing less than a seat on the United Nations
council on human rights.

Which was perfectly appropriate: Despite its
title, this is a committee whose past members -- Syria, Saudi Arabia,
Zimbabwe among them -- have not been renowned for their adherence to the
Universal Declaration on Human Rights. On the contrary, authoritarian
regimes have long battled to join the council and its predecessor
organizations, the better to prevent any outsiders from investigating their
own governments. Once they became members, much of their time was spent
denouncing Israel and the United States, while studiously avoiding anything
that might sound like, say, criticism of Russian behavior in
Chechnya.

Different American administrations have adopted different
approaches to this peculiar institution. In recent years the United States
has quit the council, denounced the council and isolated the council,
generally with bipartisan support. Perhaps the only New York Times editorial
ever written in praise of John Bolton, President Bush's pugnacious U.N.
ambassador, complimented him for advocating its radical reform.

Yet
the council kept working to the advantage of its members: The fact is that
in such places as Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe, praise -- or even
lack of condemnation -- from something called the "U.N. human rights
council" still carries a good deal of political weight. We might roll our
eyes when a committee headed by Libya solemnly pats China on the back for
its good behavior in Tibet, but in China this makes useful propaganda. We
might not take seriously the umpteenth denunciation of Israel by yet another
U.N. body, but the Syrian government probably finds it
useful.

Knowing this to be the case, the Obama administration, while it
was pressing its other reset buttons, decided to rejoin the council in 2009,
the better to "reform the institution from within." This was not just a
gesture of friendship to the human rights council but an olive branch for
the United Nations itself: We were going to engage with the process, work
with others, use diplomacy. We were going to change the way the committee
functioned, make the United Nations work for democratic values and not
against them.

And we did. When Iran began to campaign for membership,
Western diplomats -- French, Swiss, American and others -- took this
prospect seriously for the first time in recent memory. They, too, began
twisting arms and offering favors. They, too, sent their ambassadors to bat.
Western human rights groups planned major events around the council meeting.
Two French human rights activists made a film about the whole affair. Other
experts mobilized their evidence: The wave of arrests and killings that
followed last June's disputed Iranian election; the women who are severely
beaten for not covering their bodies; the wider discrimination against women
and religious minorities in courts of law; the ubiquitous presence of police
thugs and informers on the streets.

It worked. Fearing it would lose,
or fearing bad publicity that might get beamed back into the country, Iran
withdrew its bid on April 23. The human rights groups claimed "victory."
American officials spoke loftily of a "step in the right
direction."

And the result? Five days later, another committee, the U.N.
Commission on the Status of Women -- a body dedicated to "gender equality
and the advancement of women" -- put out a turgid news release announcing
its new members. Among them will be . . . the Islamic Republic of
Iran.

Which is fine, unless you think that the "advancement of women"
should not include stoning them for alleged adultery. And unless you think,
as I do, that it is time to abandon the fiction of U.N. human rights
diplomacy altogether -- or if you worry, as perhaps we all ought to, that
Iran knows its way around U.N. nuclear diplomacy better than we
imagine.

FEATURE-Zimbabwe
slowly returning to normality

HARARE, May 4 (Reuters) - The hordes of black-market currency
traders in Zimbabwe's capital Harare have gone out of business.

Just
over a year ago, Zimbabwe had the world's worst modern-day hyperinflation
and the national currency was worthless.

Streets in central Harare were
lined with black-market traders exchanging huge wads of Zimbabwean dollars
for U.S. dollars or South Africa rand.

One trader, who did so well
illegally dealing in foreign exchange he could afford to take a second wife,
has taken up his old job as a taxi driver.

"Life has become so difficult
and there is no meaningful business to sustain my life. In the past, no
matter how difficult it was, you could always get some money, but not now.
Raising a dollar has become hard labour," said Derick Chiwapura who traded
foreign exchange at a Harare shopping mall.

Today, shops in the capital
are fully stocked with goods which anyone can buy as long as they pay in
U.S. dollars. Zimbabwe's government allowed the use of multiple currencies
in early 2009, effectively making the dollar the official
currency.

Harare's streets are markedly cleaner than they were six months
ago, grocery shops have sprung up all over the capital -- offering goods at
prices comparable to neighbouring South Africa -- and there are more new
vehicles on the roads.

But much-needed investment from abroad remains
absent and the country's stock exchange has seen foreign investors retreat
after the introduction of regulations calling for foreign-owned companies to
transfer a majority stake to Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe moved to implement
the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act that requires foreign firms
to sell a 51 percent stake to local blacks at the end of
January.

"The foreigners are sniffing around. You can see that from the
full hotels but nothing will happen until the economy picks up," said one
banker in Harare.

BILLIONS NEEDED

Zimbabwe's power-sharing
government, set up by President Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan
Tsvangirai, now the country's prime minister, has estimated around $10
billion is needed to repair the economy.

Foreign investors are also
reluctant to pledge funds without faster political reform. Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party and Tsvangirai's MDC continue to bicker over the pace of reforms and
appointments of senior state officials.

One area where change is yet to
happen is the country's state media. State-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation recently ran Mugabe's speech on the occasion of the country's
30th independence anniversary as the main news item -- for four days in a
row.

And every reference to him on state television is prefixed with:
"His Excellency, The President, Head of Government and Commander-in-chief of
the Zimbabwe Defence Force".

Bankers and the country's stock exchange
say the economy can only recover if there is significant foreign investment
but the controversial empowerment regulations have spooked
investors.

"We are hearing that the regulations are going to be reviewed
but the unfortunate thing is, investors don't wait for you. They will go
elsewhere," said Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel
Munyukwi.

At the height of Zimbabwe's economic crisis in 2008, the ZSE
experienced a boom as many Zimbabweans saw the exchange as their only hedge
against runaway inflation.

Munyukwi said this was a nightmare for the
exchange.

"When you start seeing vendors in the street playing the stock
market, you know something is wrong. We were seeing guys selling bananas in
the stock market foyer checking stock prices".

For many Zimbabweans,
not much has changed in the past year.

Unemployment remains above 80
percent, state employees are paid no more than $150 a month and electricity
cuts occur daily.

"Don't worry gentlemen, we will start the generator and
set you up quickly," a Harare restaurant owner told a group of customers who
arrived during a power cut.

The Combined Harare
Residents Association (CHRA) is deeply concerned with the unhygienic conditions
that have obtained at Robinson House due to lack of water supplies in the
building. Robinson House, which, is situated in the city’s Central Business
District at Corner Angwa Street and Kwame Nkrumah, has gone for more than three
weeks without any water supplies; a situation that is threatening the health of
the office occupants in the building.

The toilets in the
building are producing a strong stench that has rendered the building a no go
area for many people. The office tenants at the building have described the
situation as a ‘nightmare’ saying that they have had to continue using the
toilets even though there is no water. Tenants have also expressed concern at
the reluctance of the City of Harare to timeously look into their plight as
nothing has been done since a report was made to the city fathers about two
weeks ago. The City of Harare has actually worsened the situation by
disconnecting water to the building citing outstanding bills. Tenants who were
interviewed by the CHRA Secretariat revealed that the City of Harare is
well aware of the water problems that the building has been facing for the past
four years. The building was actually temporarily closed by the City Health
Department sometime in 2008 but lasting solutions to the water problems have not
been found since.

The toilets are in
such a bad state that some of the tenants have resorted to using the toilets at
Angwa City; a situation that is also putting a strain on Angwa City. City of
Harare has attributed the water shortages to the obsolete water pipes that
supply water to Robinson House. However, no commitments were made as to when the
situation will be rectified. The cleaners who were contracted by the owners of
Robinson House are not doing their work properly as they only appear
occasionally (sometimes after two weeks in a row) with small buckets of water
to mop the corridors. The business operators indicated that they had
communicated the problem to the caretaker, known as Mr Besa and he
seemed not to have any solutions to the problem.

Robinson House is
run by Knight Frank on behalf of Olshevik Investments Private Limited
.The Estate agent in charge of issues at this building is Mr
Masuku who is an employee of Knight Frank. Some tenants at the building
who requested anonymity revealed that the Harare City Council had once tried to
close down the building on the grounds that it was not safe for human use but
some senior city officials were bribed by some of the business people at the
building and it was re-opened.

CHRA calls on the City
of Harare as well as the Knight Frank Company to urgently address the water
situation at Robinson House before a serious health crisis surfaces. It should
be remembered that Harare is already battling to contain other water borne
diseases like typhoid and cholera and the last thing that residents need is
another epidemic. The Association calls on the city fathers to prioritize
disease prevention so as to protect the health of
residents.

CHRA remains committed
to advocating for good, transparent and accountable local governance as well as
lobbying for quality and affordable municipal services on a non partisan
basis.